ACLU-TN Disappointed With Haslam Request to Suspend Syrian Refugee Resettlement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 16, 2015

CONTACT: Lindsay Kee, ACLU-TN communications director, 615-320-7142

NASHVILLE – Governor Bill Haslam announced today that he has requested that the federal government suspend resettlement of Syrian refugees in Tennessee. Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey and House Speaker Beth Harwell have called for a moratorium on all refugees entering the United States.

The following can be attributed to Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee:

ACLU-TN is very disappointed with Governor Haslam’s request to the federal government to suspend the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Tennessee. We mourn and condemn the horrific attacks in Paris, Beirut and Baghdad. However, the attempt by Governor Haslam and other lawmakers to draw a link between such tragedies and the admission and resettlement of Syrian refugees in Tennessee is a reflexive overreaction. The U.S. already has an extremely rigorous and multi-layered security screening program in place for refugees seeking to resettle here. Attempting to block refugee resettlement in Tennessee blames refugees for the very terror they are fleeing, and erodes our own civil liberties.